Antifibrotic effect of aloe vera in viral infection-induced hepatic periportal fibrosis

Table 1 Characteristics of the study populations (mean ± SD)

Parameter	Control group (n = 15)	Conventional group1 (n = 20)	AHM group2 (n = 20)
Age (yr)	40.2 ± 10.4	41.6 ± 15.4	40.5 ± 13.9
Sex (M/F)	15/0	15/5	17/3
HBV	-	12	12
HCV	-	8	7
Bilharziasis	-	0	1
Fibrosis Stage
F1	0	3	3
F2	0	9	10
F3	0	8	7
F4	0	0	0
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	0.55 ± 0.20	1.19 ± 0.20	1.18 ± 0.19
ALT (IU/L)	19.4 ± 8.2	87.4 ± 8.4	85.9 ± 9.1
AST (IU/L)	25.0 ± 4.3	50.8 ± 6.7	51.0 ± 4.2
ALP (IU/L)	55.0 ± 14.3	225.0 ± 85.6	223.0 ± 74.5
Albumin (g/dL)	4.4 ± 0.1	4.2 ± 0.2	4.3 ± 0.1
INR	0.88 ± 0.22	1.47 ± 0.3	1.51 ± 0.2

¹Patients treated with the conventional treatment with placebo (starch) for 12 consecutive weeks;

²Patients treated with the conventional treatment with 0.15 g/d AHM for 12 consecutive weeks. AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; INR: International normalization ratio; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; AHM: Aloe vera high molecular weight fractions.